, 1887-02-03

friend for life.''
SO, after luncheon one day, she sidled
up to Richard, and asked him to come
INTO the hall to see some art needlework
The was doing for his sister. When they
were alone She began to her unsuspect-
ing companion:
Il dare say you think me very meddle-
-ome. Mr.. Feyne:'
As n matter of fact. Richard mad never
thought of her at all, and now he looked
at her startled and utterly unprepared for
what was coming.
Il have known you SO long, she con-
tinued, that / must give you a warning.
| know you don't see the thing as Others
do, but you really mustn't spend every
evening listening to that musical little
dressmaker. People are beginning TO
talk, ~ she went on, i%nventing on the
spur of the moment, land you don't
know what you have put into her silly
little head-sho will expect you to marry
her; n she is head and ears in love. |
assure you, if she comes up like this,
night after night, to sing to you, there
will be all kinds Of stories. No IL re-
spectacle would employ her as dress
make if she sets her cap at gentlemen
Tho color rose in Richards face to the
roots of his hair. For one moment he
was o angry to speak, and the foolish
woman. taking his silence for IA sign of
consent, went on archly: You are
throwing away all your chances with
Lady Eleanor. Yes, yes; l know she's
been in love with you ever since she was
a child in the schoolroom; but you can't
expect this kind of thing to last forever.
and one day she will get tired refusing all
the great people who propose to her"
BY this time Richard had recovered his
voice. ''All that you have said to me is
utterly false and untrue!" he cried, his
voice trembling with anger. Neither
Miss Wilson nor myself have ever enter
tanned for a momen the ideas you nave
been good enough to impute to us. And
if people nave talked, they have simply
done 50 because they are malicious and
coarse minded
The little woman was now frightened
at what she had done. 'I'm sure l only
spoke because | wished to spare Lady
Eleanor pain; anybody could see that she
cares for you
Richard was beginning to deny this
story too, when suddenly lie stopped.
Something within him told him that this
at least was true, though he had never
before known it.
TIL silly woman rambled on incohe-
rently, trying to excuse herself for med
ding. ''Of course, 1t was running the
girl and l felt sorry for her-Miss Wilson,
| mean. A girls character is 80 quickly
questioned, M then what remains: |
couldn't bear to think of it,
do you mean to say" Richard de
manded, furious, that Miss Wilson's
reputation has suffered in the slightest
degree, or hat she has been lowered i'll
the eyes of the world, by my fault!'
His opponent prevaricated, hesitated,
and then finally agreed that it was so.
Sh wa SO terrified that she scarcely
knew what she was saying, and her one
idea was to e'cape from Richard, who,
erect before her, his handsome face still
handsomer with passion, and his angry
eyes fixed upon her, was ready, 30 she
declared, ito kill her,'
There is only one remedy" Mr..
Feyne said, slowly; Il must ask Miss
Wilson to be my wife. That is, it APP
pears to me, the only way to put every
thing straight and he strobe out of the
room, leaving the wretched creature to
recover her senses. Without asking any
body's advice, without pausing to consid-
er, he proceeded to act on his blind I'M
pulse. 1t was Il pouring wet day; the
rain had been steadily falling all day and
the ground was sodden and the trees
dripping with moisture. The landscape
looked blurred and blotted, and the only
sound III the air was the regular, rhyth-
mic sob of the rain. Richard passed before
the hall windows, wrapped in the black
Spanish cloak that Lady Violet used to
call his ''conspirator's cloak" He heard
n tap ON the glass, and turned round to
see Lady Eleanor, who smiled and waved
her hand to him. Il wish you joy of
your wet walkl'' she cried laugh
ingly. Richard moved hastily away;
Il sudden consciousness seized him
that this really was the woman he
loved. He had never realized it before;
now it was too late. He hurried down
to the little town and rang the bell at
Jenny's house. The little apprentice
showed him up into the parlor, where
presently Jenny, with a flushed and
startled face, made her appearance. He
went up to her, regardless of his dripping
cloak that was making puddles on the
~threadbare carpet, and began earnestly:
Il am afraid, Miss Wilson, that you
have been annoyed by these abominable
reports and scandalous stories. He
paused. taking Jenny's bushes for o
firmation of his words. II am deeply
grieved,' he went on, ''that any one
should have dared to make my name the
source of any discomfort to yol. but if
you wish these stories can be silenced at
once. | have cons to ask YOU to lie my
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